Selecting content items for presentation to a social networking system user based in part on content item appearance

Abstract

A social networking system selects content items for presentation to a user. To promote user interaction with selected content items, the social networking system scores content items based at least in part on similarity in appearances of the content items to an appearance of a content item for which the social networking system is compensated for presentation (a “sponsored content item”). For example, a model is applied to features describing appearance of a content item to generate the score for a content item. When selecting content items for presentation, a score associated with a content item may modify the likelihood of the content item being selected. A content item with a score indicating greater than a threshold similarity in appearance to an appearance of a sponsored content item may be penalized when the social networking system selects content for presentation.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 obtaining content items maintained by a social networking system for presentation to a user of the social networking system;   identifying features of each content item describing appearances of the content items;   determining a score for each obtained content item, the score for a content item based at least in part on the identified features of the content item describing an appearance of the content item and the score providing a measure of similarity of an appearance of the content item to an appearance of a sponsored content item;   selecting content for presentation to the user of the social networking system from the obtained content items based at least in part on the determined scores; and   providing the selected content to a client device for presentation to the user.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the score for each obtained content item comprises:
 applying a trained model to the identified features of each obtained content item to generate the score for the content item   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the model is trained based on classification by one or more users of the social networking system of content items from a training set as having the appearance of the sponsored content item. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting content for presentation to the user of the social networking system from the obtained content items based at least in part on the determined scores comprises:
 ranking at least a set of the obtained content items based at least in part on likelihoods of the user interacting with content items in the set and bid amounts associated one or more content items included in the set;   modifying a position in the ranking of one or more content items in the set based at least in part on the scores associated with the one or more content items; and   selecting content for presentation to the user based at least in part on the modified positions in the ranking.   
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 4 , wherein modifying the position in the ranking of one or more content items in the set based at least in part on the scores associated with the one or more content items comprises:
 increasing a position in the ranking of a content item associated with a bid amount if the score for the content item is less than a threshold value.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 4 , wherein modifying the position in the ranking of one or more content items in the set based at least in part on the scores associated with the one or more content items comprises:
 decreasing a position in the ranking of a content item that is not associated with a bid amount if the score for the content item equals or exceeds a threshold value.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 4 , wherein modifying the position in the ranking of one or more content items in the set based at least in part on the scores associated with the one or more content items comprises:
 modifying a likelihood of the user interacting with a content item included in the set by an amount based at least in part on a score associated with the content item included in the set; and   modifying a position of the content item included in the set based on the modified likelihood of the user interacting with the content item included in the set.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 7 , wherein modifying the likelihood of the user interacting with the content item included in the set by the amount based at least in part on the score associated with the content item included in the set comprises:
 decreasing the likelihood of the user interacting with the content item included in the set by an amount proportional to the score associated with the content item included in the set.   
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting content for presentation to the user of the social networking system from the obtained content items based at least in part on the determined scores comprises:
 applying one or more rules based at least in part on the determined scores to the obtained content items.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , wherein a rule specifies a minimum number of content items associated with scores less than a threshold value selected after selection of a content item associated with a bid amount. 
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , wherein a rule associates a maximum score with a position in a feed of content. 
     
     
         12 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 identifying a training set of content items maintained by a social networking system, including at least one or more content items associated with a bid amount;   identifying features of each content item in the training set, features associated with a content item describing appearance of the content describing appearances of the content items;   presenting one or more content items from the training set to a user of the social networking system;   receiving feedback from the user indicating whether the one or more content items have appearances matching an appearance of a content item associated with a bid amount;   training a model to generate a score providing a measure of similarity of an appearance of the content item to an appearance of the content item associated with the bid amount based at least in part on the received feedback and features of the presented one or more content items; and   storing the trained model in the social networking system.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein receiving feedback from the user indicating whether the one or more content items have appearances matching the appearance of the content item associated with the bid amount comprises:
 presenting one or more questions identifying a presented content item that prompt the user to indicate whether the appearance of the presented content item matches the appearance of the content item associated with the bid amount; and   receiving a response to at least one of the presented one or more questions from the user.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein a feature of a content item included in the training set comprises one or more dimensions of image data included in the content item. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein a feature of a content item included in the training set specifies placement of text in the content item relative to image data included in the content item. 
     
     
         16 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
 obtain content items maintained by a social networking system for presentation to a user of the social networking system;   identify features of each content item describing appearances of the content items;   determine a score for each obtained content item, the score for a content item based at least in part on the identified features of the content item describing an appearance of the content item and the score providing a measure of similarity of an appearance of the content item to an appearance of a sponsored content item;   select content for presentation to the user of the social networking system from the obtained content items based at least in part on the determined scores; and   provide the selected content to a client device for presentation to the user.   
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 16 , wherein determine the score for each obtained content item comprises:
 apply a trained model to the identified features of each obtained content item to generate the score for the content item   
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 17 , wherein the model is trained based on classification by one or more users of the social networking system of content items from a training set as having the appearance of the sponsored content item. 
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 16 , wherein select content for presentation to the user of the social networking system from the obtained content items based at least in part on the determined scores comprises:
 rank at least a set of the obtained content items based at least in part on likelihoods of the user interacting with content items in the set and bid amounts associated one or more content items included in the set;   modify a position in the ranking of one or more content items in the set based at least in part on the scores associated with the one or more content items; and   select content for presentation to the user based at least in part on the modified positions in the ranking.   
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 16 , wherein select content for presentation to the user of the social networking system from the obtained content items based at least in part on the determined scores comprises:
 apply one or more rules based at least in part on the determined scores to the obtained content items.